


Not a trick

by Analinea



Series: Worst Case Scenario [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Happy Ending, I won't tag more to not spoil the 1k of fic, M/M, Post-Nogitsune, Post-Season/Series 03, but I'll put things in the end note if you REALLY want to know, lil bit of angst and sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Analinea/pseuds/Analinea
Summary: Stiles wondered why the Nogitsune chose him...they get their answer a week after defeating it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers in the end notes if you can't stand not knowing before reading, but I promise there's no violence in this fic!

As it turns out, the dementia wasn't as much a lie than a reason.

Stiles, when he was left alone in the dark corners of his mind after hours -days, years?- of torture, wondered why him. Why not Allison, if it was to possess a human? Scott, if it was about being a man? He looked for what he was that his friends weren't.

He thought for a second, then, that maybe it was a question of cruelty, of darkness, of similarities with a murderous spirit, but he remembered Allison shooting Erica and Boyd and he realized that he wasn't the only one with that kind of violence buried deep inside.

Weak. He was weak. That's what he was.

But then it wasn't that either, they learned later. A week after defeating the Nogitsune and trapping it in a wooden box, they learned that it wasn't a question of species, of genre, of darkness or weakness.

Stiles woke up free of the fire in his mind and the ice freezing his body, got up and they got a day of reprieve. Just enough time to celebrate the end of this fight and mourn their lost friends. The first night, he had nightmares that woke his dad and Scott up. It was to be expected, they thought.

But then...then Stiles started acting weird.

Stiles, since childhood, never really paid attention to social rules. He knew it was why he often found himself on the sidelines of society. He didn't really care. But this? This was way more than that.

The second day, he “borrowed” money from his dad. A lot of it, and without asking. It was unusual, but he said “I thought I asked you” and the Sheriff let it slide. He just made sure to avoid leaving cash laying around in the house.

The third day, his fashion sense went from “acceptable” to “disaster”, but he was tired, right? He was getting back on his feet and just put on the first things he took out of his closet.

The fourth day, he voiced his every thought to the point where even Malia, freshly introduced to the pack and accompanying them to the school parking lot every morning until she could start school herself, was offended. Scott laughed awkwardly after Stiles left to get something from his locker, apologized in his name.

The fifth day, Stiles didn't come to school. When Lydia went to knock at his door, skipping class to see if he was okay, he opened the door in his pajamas. When she asked what happened, he said, “Why? Did I forget a meeting or something?” He forgot school.

So, on the morning of the eighth day, after Derek and the Sheriff spent the seventh day sharing their concerns, they go to the hospital to do the tests again.

Turns out, the dementia wasn't a lie. It was a reason.

 

They hold an emergency meeting at Scott's house the morning after getting the official results. The Sheriff and Derek look exhausted, their faces speaking of the struggle it must have been to drag Stiles to the hospital after everything that happened there.

Then, there was the doctor asking Stiles to stay still in the MRI, and the screen showing an atrophied area, John feeling his knees go weak as the words were repeated again _you see this area?_

Once had already been a torture, but there had been hope that it was another of the Nogitsune's lies when they learned about the dark spirit.

Twice was excruciating. Twice was cursing every god for all Stiles inherited from his mother: her eyes, her smile, some of her mannerisms, her agony.

Stiles didn't cry, when his father couldn't get the words out and Derek told him the news. Maybe he didn't have any tears left, maybe he was so tired it was actually a relief to have an expiration date with only a few weeks left. A programmed obsolescence. Pieces of himself giving up until there was nothing left to keep his body running. Maybe he didn't even realize.

Everyone else cried, after the phone call. The Sheriff waited to have Melissa arms around him to keep him from crumbling. Melissa with John and then with her two boys in her embrace.

Scott silently, for hours. Kira discreetly, for the friend she'd never know. Lydia freely, because someone once told her she looked beautiful when she cried and she intended on honoring it. Isaac in secret, as he hung up and kept on packing.

Derek...Derek only in front of Stiles, only in Stiles arms, only in the hours of twilight and night and dawn that were theirs only. With Stiles whispering comforting words and asking again and again, “Why are you crying, Softwolf?”

So they hold an emergency meeting at Scott's house, they're all here, even Isaac who delayed leaving for a few days. Stiles sits silently on the couch, looking at everyone and wondering why they're here.

A lot of his memories are already lost, the illness progressing faster than normal because the Nogitsune held it back and it's like an elastic being suddenly released. His short term memory is still the worst, though, but Kira, Malia, Eichen House, bits and pieces of the Nogitsune, gone. Who knows what else? He can't dress himself properly alone anymore. They have no idea what else they haven't uncovered yet.

They all quiet as Scott sits next to Stiles and smiles bravely. He doesn't feel like smiling. He feels like crying again. He says, “Do you know why we're all here?” and Stiles smiles, hands catching Scott's, he answers, “Why we're all here, yes. All here.”

He turned his head at his dad's choked sob, looking sad and lost, and then he turned back to Scott, smiling again. Scott faces the pack, face set with determination. “There's no guaranty it'll work, but before– Stiles agreed to this, when he still could.”

The quiet from before turns almost religious, filled with silent prayers to gods they want to believe in, right now. Scott catches Stiles eyes. “I'm going to bite you, okay?” he asks, desperate for his friend to understand what he's saying. Stiles nods, and Scott knows he understands, even if he might forget about it in a few seconds, even if he can't really answer with words anymore. “It's gonna hurt. I'm sorry.”

Then Scott frees one of his arms from Stiles hold and takes his friends wrist in his hand. Stiles is transfixed by the movement, but is distracted when Derek sits behind him and holds him chest to back. It makes him smile and try to turn his head enough to see Derek.

Scott brings Stiles' forearm close to his mouth, takes a second to breath deep and push back the fear. He closes his eyes, and when he opens them again Stiles is staring in wonder at the redness of his brother's irises.

Scott bites him.

 

Nothing is ever easy. That's what Derek thinks, looking at Stiles a few months later.

The brain is a fragile thing, even for werewolves -one of his aunt had control issues after an incident involving house building and a nail gun- and the rule proved correct.

Stiles healed. His brain healed. The neural connections that were lost with the atrophy disappeared forever. A brand new frontal and temporal lobe was a miracle in itself, yes, but everything in it...that just couldn't grow back.

So Stiles had to relearn some things.

Speech wasn't easy at first, but if Stiles was something it was persistent and talkative, so he had hours of practice on his side. Derek spent days listening to nonsense and asking Stiles if he understood him correctly, helping him correct himself when he didn't.

Going back and forth from an information or activity to another was another struggle, but it came back almost as fast as speech, even if was a lot more frustrating for Stiles.

He had to meet Kira and Malia again. He had to learn again a few things about his friends. He had to go through the werewolf reveal again, even if they all decided to let him figure it out by himself so he could brag about it later.

The Sheriff supervised all this, his son's recovery, and day after day everyone could see John start to be happy again. In the end, it wasn't only Stiles who healed.

It wasn't easy. Life never is. But it was, it _is_ life, and that is everything. Stiles, little by little and then all at once got back his spark. Derek thinks about how bright and happy he looks now. It had been the worst, the apathy.

And Derek is still teaching some things to Stiles, new things. Supernatural things, control, how to defend himself, the lore, the beauty of the stars seen with werewolf's eyes.

With Derek, Stiles learns all over again what love is. That's probably one of the most important things. As beautiful as the night sky when they both run as wolves.

 

**Author's Note:**

> TL;DR (haha): Stiles has frontotemporal dementia for real and Scott "does something" (aka the Bite™) and they're all happy in the end (except those who canonically died, sorry)
> 
> I want to make this a series of short one shots about how specific things in the show could have turned out worse (yeah, don't ask, I like to emotionally hurt myself and you, random citizens), I already have a few ideas that I'll write and post between working on longer stuff, BUT IF YOU HAVE IDEAS:  
> you're welcomed to share them with me. Fair warning, I can't promise to write everything quickly (and I honestly don't think I'll have hundred of prompts, one or two will already be a miracle, but if I have I can't even promise to write everything), like it can take a few months ( _life_ ya know)  
>  Also, kudos are life, comments are loved and if you have ideas you can put them in the comments or share them in my ask box [tumblr](http://www.kinsbournescream.tumblr.com)


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